Beechwood High School
Course: English for ELLs
Class Period: 6th
School Year: 2015-2016
Instructor: Mrs. Daniele Novak
Room Number: 103
Email: [email protected]
Course Description:
This course focuses on the development of the four basic communication skills of listening, speaking,
reading, and writing in English. This course will help students to develop and/or refine their research, study
and test-taking skills to ensure that they have the support to achieve academically in general education
courses.
Course Standards:
• English Language Proficiency Standard 1: English language learners communicate for Social and Instructional
purposes within the school setting.
• English Language Proficiency Standard 2: English language learners communicate information, ideas, and
concepts necessary for academic success in the content area of Language Arts.
• English Language Proficiency Standard 3: English language learners communicate information, ideas, and
concepts necessary for academic success in the content area of Mathematics.
• English Language Proficiency Standard 4: English language learners communicate information, ideas, and
concepts necessary for academic success in the content area of Science.
• English Language Proficiency Standard 5: English language learners communicate information, ideas, and
concepts necessary for academic success in the content area of Social Studies
Course Texts:
- Edge Fundamentals, Hampton-Brown – Newcomer Level
- Visions C, Thomson-Heinle – Advanced Level
Grading Scale:
School Grading System:
A: 92- 100
B: 84- 91
C: 76- 83
D: 70- 75
Your grade is made up of the following:



60% Classwork
20% Formative Assessments (quizzes, labs, projects)
20% Summative Assessments (chapter and/or unit tests, projects)
Classroom Expectations:
1 – Be respectful. Listen when others are talking; keep hands, feet, objects and negative comments to
yourself.
2 – Be responsible. Work productively and give your best effort.
Consequences for not Meeting Classroom Expectations



1st Consequence – Verbal warning and / or parent contact (phone call or e-mail).
2nd Consequence – Detention.
3rd Consequence – Referral to the administration.
Depending on the severity of the classroom disruption or behavior, the teacher may bypass consequences
listed above.
Curriculum Outline
Newcomer Level
Unit 1: All About Me
Reading Strategy: Visualize (form mental and sensory
images)
Writing Project: Expressive Writing: Poem, Postcard,
Summary Paragraphs
Vocabulary Strategy: Relate Words (word categories,
concept clusters, synonyms and antonyms)
Grammar Focus: - use complete sentences - use
subject pronouns
Language Workshop: - give information use the verb
to be - ask and give information/use the verb to
have - ask and answer questions/use the verb to do
Unit 2: Wisdom of the Ages
Reading Strategy: Ask Questions (self-question,
question the author, question-answer relationship)
Writing Project: Expository Writing: - Advice column Write about a folk tale
Vocabulary Strategy: - Use Word Parts suffixes –ly, able - Synonyms and - Antonyms - Compound
words
Grammar Focus: - use action verbs in the present
tense - use helping verbs - use object pronouns
Language Workshop: - Describe actions/use action
verbs - Express likes and dislikes use present
progressive verbs - Express needs and wants/use
nouns and verbs in sentences
Unit 3: Global Village
Essential Question: What Makes Us the Same? What
Makes Us Different?
Reading Strategy: Determine Importance (identify
main ideas and supporting details, summarize,
make personal connections)
Writing Project: Descriptive writing: description,
comparison-contrast paragraph
Vocabulary Strategy: Use Word Parts (suffixes &
prefixes)
Grammar Focus: - use adjectives - use adjectives that
compare - use possessive adjectives
Language Workshop: - describe people and
places/use adjectives before nouns - making
comparisons/ use adjectives that compare making comparisons/ use possessive nouns
Essential Question: Who Am I?
Selections from Hampton Brown Edge Fundamentals:
 First Names (Photo Essay)
 From Romeo and Juliet: Act II Scene II (Play
Excerpt) supplement with film
 Growing Together (Short Story)
 My People (Poem)
 Ways to Know You (Expository Nonfiction)
 Who is She? (Magazine Article)
Essential Question: What Makes Us Wise?
Selections from HamptonBrown Edge Fundamentals:
 How Anansi Gave Wisdom to the World (Folk
Tale)
 Good Advice from Teens (Web Forum)
 From Be Water, My Friend: The Early Years of
Bruce Lee (Biography)
 Hands (Short Fiction)
 Daddy’s Hands (Song)
 Mathematics (Memoir)
 Remember (Poem)
Essential Question: What makes us the same? What
makes us different?
Selections from HamptonBrown Edge Fundamentals:
If the World Were a Village (Expository Nonfiction)
The Same (Poem)
Freaky Food (Magazine Article)
Behind the Veil (Narrative Nonfiction)
The Simple Sport (Photo Essay)
Alphabet City Ballet (Short Fiction)
You Can Get It If You Want (Song Lyrics)
Unit 4: Survival
Reading Strategy: Plan and Monitor (preview, predict,
set a purpose, clarify ideas, clarify vocabulary)
Vocabulary Strategy: Build Word Knowledge (use a
dictionary, multiple-meaning words, thesaurus
skills)
Writing Project: Writing Expository Paragraph,
Descriptive Writing (post card-5 senses)
Grammar Focus: - past tense verbs: was, were irregular past tense verbs - adverbs
Language Workshop: - describe experience /use past
tense - describe past event - give and carry out
commands
Unit 5: Fitting In
Reading Strategy: Make Connections (compare and
contrast, text-to-self, text-to -the world, text-to-text
connections)
Vocabulary Strategy: Use Context Clues (synonyms
and context clues, context clues for multiple
meaning words, example clues)
Writing Project: Expressive Writing: Fact – and –
Opinion Paragraph Research Project: Write about
a different country
Grammar Focus: - verb tenses - prepositional phrases
- subject and object pronouns
Language Workshop: - Express Intentions / Verbs in
the Future Tense - Expression Opinions/
Prepositions - Express Ideas and Feelings/Object
Pronoun
Essential Question: What Does It Take to Survive?
Selections from Hampton-Brown Edge
Fundamentals:
Two Were Left (Short Story)
Tornado Survivor Called ‘The Luckiest Man on Earth’
(Newspaper Article)
Surviving Katrina (News Feature)
Maps (Nonfiction)
Test Your Survival Skills (Magazine Article)
Fight or Flight? What Your Body Knows About
Survival (Science Article)
Survivor Rulon Gardner (Magazine)
Unit 6: What Matters Most
Reading Strategy: Make Inferences
Vocabulary Strategy: Interpret Figurative Language
(similes, idioms)
Writing Project Narrative Writing: Personal Narrative,
Memoir, Presentation
Grammar Focus: - complete sentences - combine
sentences - combine clauses
Language Workshop: - Express Intentions / Verbs in
the Future Tense - Expression Opinions/
Prepositions - Express Ideas and Feelings/Object
Pronouns
Essential Question: What is Most Important in Life?
 Selections from Hampton-Brown Edge
Fundamentals:
 Luck (Play)
 Young at Heart (Memoir)
 The Marketplace (Nonfiction)
 The Scholarship Jacket (Short Story)
 Eye On Cheaters (Article)
 The Gift of the Magi (Short Story)
Essential Question: How Important Is It to Fit In?
Selections from Hampton-Brown Edge Fundamentals:
 Frijoles (Novel Excerpt)
 The Jay and the Peacocks (Fable)
 Cochlear Implants: Two Sides of the Story
(Persuasive Essay)
 A Different Drummer (Quote)
 High School (Photo Essay)
 The Right Moves (Short Story)
 I’m Nobody (Poem)
Curriculum Outline
Advanced Level
Unit 1: Mysteries
Reading Strategies: Make Inferences using Textual
Evidence, Find the Main Idea and Supporting
Details, Identify Imagery
Vocabulary Strategies: Use Language Structure to
Find Meaning, Learn Context Words by Grouping,
Identify Antonyms
Grammar Focus: Use Prepositional Phrases, Write
Dependent Clauses, ID Simple, Compound, &
Complex Sentences
Writing Project: Compare Two Texts
Unit 2: Survival
Reading Strategies: Make Inferences, Recognize
Tone and Mood, ID Cause and Effect
Vocabulary Strategies: Use Reference Sources,
Locate Pronunciations of Unfamiliar Words, Use
Precise Wording
Grammar Focus: Use Present, Past, Past Perfect and
Progressive Tenses
Writing Project: Write a Survival Manual
Unit 3: Journeys
Reading Strategies: Recognize Figurative Language,
Paraphrase to Recall Information, Predict,
Compare & Contrast
Vocabulary Strategies: ID Multiple-Meaning Words,
Apply Knowledge of Root Words
Grammar Focus: Use Apostrophes with Possessive
Nouns, ID Subject and Object Pronouns, Use
Comparative and Superlative Adjectives
Writing Project: Write a Research Report
Unit 4: Cycles
Reading Strategies: Use Chronology to Locate
Information, Compare Text to Your Own
Knowledge and Experience
What skills do we need to “read between the lines”?
Reading Selections
 “The Loch Ness Monster,” an excerpt from an
informational book (Yorke)
 “Mystery of the Cliff Dwellers,” an excerpt from a
textbook
 “Yawning,” an informational text (Samiei)
 “The Sneak Thief,” a mystery (Travis)
 “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” a legend (Irving)
How can our experiences help us to make predictions?
Reading Selections
 “How I Survived My Summer Vacation,” and excerpt
from a novel (Friedman)
 “The Voyage of the Frog,” an excerpt from a novel
(Paulsen)
 “To Risk or Not to Risk,” an informational text
(Ropeik)
 “Island of the Blue Dolphins,” an excerpt from a
novel based on a true story (O’Dell)
 “The Next Great Dying,” an excerpt from an
informational book (Vergoth and Lampton)
How does language affect us?
Reading Selections:
 “I Have no Address,” poem (El Din)
 “The Voyage of the Lucky Dragon,” an excerpt from
a novel (Bennett)
 “The Time Bike,” an excerpt from a science fiction
novel (Langton)
 “Why We Can’t Get There From Here,” an
informational text (Tyson)
 “The California Gold Rush,” an excerpt from an
informational book (Zollman)
 “Dame Shirley and the Gold Rush,” an excerpt from
a historical novel (Rawls)
How do cycles impact our lives?
Reading Selections:
 “Water Dance,” a poem (Lockeri)
 “Persephone and the Seasons,” a myth (Amery)
Vocabulary Strategies: Lean Vivid Verbs, Study Word
Origins, Use a Dictionary
Grammar Focus: Use Comparative Adjectives, Use
Irregular Past Tense Verbs, Recognize Active and
Passive Voices
Writing Project: Compare and Contrast Ideas,
Themes, and Issues
Unit 5: Freedom
Reading Strategies: Make Inferences Using Text
Evidence, Summarize and Paraphrase, Predict,
Compare and Contrast Texts
Vocabulary Strategies: Use Word Squares to
Remember Meaning, Use Text Features to
Comprehend Text
Grammar Focus: ID Causes with Subject + Verb +
Object + Infinitive
Writing Project: Write a Biographical Narrative
Unit 6: Visions
Reading Strategies: Use Chronology to Locate and
Recall Information
Vocabulary Strategies: Distinguish Denotative and
Connotative Meanings, Identify Antonyms
Grammar Focus: Use the Present Prefect Tense, Use
Conjunctions to Form Compound Sentences
Writing Project: Write a Persuasive Letter


“The Circuit,” an autobiographical short story
(Jimenez)
“The Elements of Life,” an excerpt from an
informational book (Bennett)
Why is freedom important? How does freedom or a lack of
freedom affect people?
Reading Selections:
 “Rosa Parks,” an excerpt from a biography (Pinkney)
 “The Gettysburg Address,” a historical narrative
(Richards)
 “So Far from the Bamboo Grove,” excerpt from a
novel based on a true story (Watkins)
 “Alone,” a poem (Abeel)
 “Samantha’s Story,” an autobiography (Abeel)
How and why do we persuade other people?
Reading Selections:
 “Mr. Scrooge Finds Christmas,” an excerpt from a
play (Fisher)
 “The House on Mango Street,” an excerpt from
novel (Cisneros)
 “The Pearl,” an excerpt from a novel (Steinbeck)
 “What Will Our Towns Look Like?,” an article on the
World Wide Web (Pickerill)
Parents and Students,
Please sign and return to Mrs. Novak by August 29, 2015. It is a required document for
student files.
Thank you,
Mrs. Novak
We the parent/guardian(s) and the student, have fully read, understood, and agree to
abide by these expectations.
Print Student name
Student’s signature
Date
Student e-mail address
Print Parent/Guardian
Name
Parent/Guardian’s signature
Parent e-mail address
Parent contact number
Date